Memoirs and morsels from home and abroad

at long last

Most cheese should be brought to room temperature for a few hours before serving. And when I think about brie and Camembert (and clearly I think about Camembert more often than I eat it), I envision it as an off-white slice leaking out of a snow-white rind, almost melting and oozing easily onto a cracker ready to receive its runny mild flavor.

To the best of my knowledge, few people in the US store cheeses on the counter, so they rarely get to the point of stinkiness as in France, but our obsession with refrigeration prevents us from really enjoying and exploring the full palate and joy that cheese can bring. One exception is baked brie. This is one of the easiest and fanciest-looking foods for entertaining and has become one of my signature dishes over the past few years when I made a few tweaks to tradition preparation.

When most people hear “baked brie” they think of brie en croûte – a round of cheese slathered with preserves, typically apricot or raspberry, or maybe some dried cranberries and then wrapped in puffed pastry and baked. This is good but, in my mind, a bit too overdone. The main trick to brie en croûte is to use a good puff pastry and to cook at a pre-heated oven at a high heat, ~425°F for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. That’s it. Super simple.

Of course, I can’t really leave simple alone. When I do make this type of baked brie, I typically caramelize slivered almonds to cover the brie with before wrapping in a puffed pastry crust. Just different enough to get a few surprised looks. I remember making this for my friends Adam and then pregnant Pamela, who was thrilled when we realized that unlike French brie made with raw milk, in the US, brie is made with pasteurized mik, so she could indulge freely.

For my birthday 2 years ago (when I served “A Taste of Europe in Manhattan” for over 50 guests…NOT TO BE REPEATED without a serving and clean-up crew!), I experimented and came up with a slightly savory baked brie dish. It obviated the need for the puff pastry shell, using the natural rind to contain the oozing cheese and baked directly in the round wooded box, creating a unique flavor and presentation that preserved the essence of the brie.

This is potentially also slightly lower in calories (since there is no puff pastry). But, let’s be real. Once you’re talking about double écrémé cheese (almost 50% butterfat!) the only way to pretend you’re cutting calories is by moderation. Small portions — just un petit goût as the French might say, a little taste, a few forkfuls. But this stuff is so good, you might need to hide it from yourself!

a not-so-petit goût

I made this dish for my parents when they came to spend Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, with me soon after I moved to Cambridge last year. My father has been requesting the recipe for months so that my mother will make it for him (most of my father’s cooking is relegated to the grill…). So, here are the long overdue, step-by-step directions.

This is definitely a party-sized recipe, but this recipe can be halved for if you want to make a 1-pound Brie (though the onions are pretty good and you should make the whole recipe, reserving the onions to serve warm on the side or for another use). Even if the cheese does not come in a wooden box, you can bake on foil and the rind should contain the cheese pretty well. In order to slice the Brie in the middle lengthwise, freeze the cheese for about 30 minutes while preparing the onions, and then score with a knife and use dental floss to evenly cut the Brie through to the center.

A 2-pound Brie serves 15-20 as an appetizer with water crackers or slices of baguette

Preheat oven to 350ºF (You may be able to cook this at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time, but I have always made it at 350).

caramelized onions, after addition of balsamic

Place wrapped Brie in freezer (~30 minutes) for easier slicing later.

Prepare caramelized onions. Slice onions into very thin half- or quarter-rounds. Saute in olive oil or oil/butter mix over medium heat for ~15 mintues until start to brown. Add sugar and water and raise heat to medium high. Cook, stirring frequently until the onions are shiny and continue to darken, and the liquid is almost evaporated, ~ 10 more minutes. Add balsamic and cook additional 5 minutes until onions are dark brown and syrupy. Taste and add salt if necessary (the salt brings out the sweetness in the onions and give an extra bit of savory to the mix).

Remove brie from freezer and unwrap. Score cheese all the way around with a knife.

scoring the cheese with a knife

Then wrap dental floss around the cheese, cross the ends, and pull so that the floss slices through the cheese evenly, cutting it into two pretty even halves.

wrap and cross the floss...

... and pull, slicing cheese through the middle ...

... yielding 2 even halves

Place one half in wooden box bottom, cover with onions, and top with the other half of the cheese.

I like to score the top of the rind so that some of the cheese will bubble through and it is easier to tell when brie is ready. I also top the cheese with a little bit of the onion to give a little hint of what is inside, but again, not necessary.

Cheese should be baked in wooden box bottom, on aluminum foil (in case of spills) and placed on baking sheet on center rack.

Brie, ready for oven

Brie is ready when cheese begins to seep through scores in top of rind and the cuts begin to separate.

– Marina — It is tasty! We can make a mini batch when you come up this weekend.
– Jess — I love that you appreciate its drippy ooziness!
– Caroline — What a great idea for Passover and thank you for pointing this out — I’m going to add this to my Passover recipe box! My Passover M.O. is to make regular recipes that just happen to be flourless (flourless chocolate torte, anyone?). I think baked brie sans croute will adorn our pesach lunch table too.

I did not pay much attention to cheese until I first tasted this particular form. About the only cheese I used was some American when needed. Then one day, while visiting the Z in Cambridge, this particular recipe was served. Now it is the one, and only, on the top of my list!

Yum-o!! I have been waiting for this written recipe for almost 6 months. It is as gorgeous as I remembered and as tasty, I’m sure. Definitely not low calorie, especially since you usually eat more than just a taste because it is so delicious. Well worth the calories. Thanks, Z, for the recipe.

Annie and StephenPhD — Sorry it took so long to get the recipe up online, but glad you think it was worth the wait (and the calories!). This is probably more of a special occasion and party dish. Of course, the true test is whether you can recreate this on your own, or thinking like a scientist, was my methodology clear enough to be reproducible with the same results? Looking forward to having you make it for me!

About

Hi! I'm Gayle, and here I use my Hebrew name Zahavah. I work front of house in a restaurant where I'm learning the hospitality industry from the ground up. Up until a year ago, I was a health care consultant. Also, I have an MD. Go figure! Thanks for dropping by and joining the conversation.

koshercamembert@gmail.com

Search for:

Want to be the first to read a recipe?

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.